Lexmark Printer Issues

[Dut]

I seem to be in a spot of bother with my Lexmark printer I recently purchased. It works, that is to say I can re-align the print heads carry out a test print and do the other maintenance stuff all from my Mac. Yet when I try to print a Pages document the Pages program quits and no print out happens? Can any body help me with any ideas please? Thanks.

[Mike K]

Is the printer driver Leopard compatible? Did you go to Lexmark's website and make sure to download the latest version for your printer?

[Dut]

Thanks Mike, I can print if I drag and drop documents into the printer's schedule list, (only some files, not Word documents). I guess the guy in the store I went to didn't know as much as he thought he did. I can use the printer if I down-grade to Tiger, but I'm not going to do that.

[vangogh62]

Personally, I owned a Lexmark for years, and my experience with it was not a pleasant one. I used it under windowXP, and it caused no end of problems until one day it actually spit out little pieces of plastic from the place where it should've been spitting out my print. I have a Canon i470D now, and it's a couple of years old, and has performed under Tiger without any problems at all.

As for printing under Leopard, I don't know, but like Mike said, download that updated driver, or look for a third party driver on the internet.

[Dut]

Thanks Van,

I have been trying to search for a third party driver this morning but no luck. I went to Lexmark's main website and poured through their driver pages only to find they don't have any for my model. I think I'll just buy another printer, but will wait for the sales in January to see if that throws up any good deals. I'm not too bothered about the printer as it was a budget model, (just over $100).

[JamesJM]

Thanks Van,

I have been trying to search for a third party driver this morning but no luck. I went to Lexmark's main website and poured through their driver pages only to find they don't have any for my model. I think I'll just buy another printer, but will wait for the sales in January to see if that throws up any good deals. I'm not too bothered about the printer as it was a budget model, (just over $100).

This seems one of the oddest problems I've read about.  You can print by dragging and dropping but no other way?  And no Word Docs but you can others? 

My son-in-law has a Lexmark... ummm, I forget the model, perhaps an X80?  "HIS" Lexmark didn't support the Mac... not even Tiger.  The workaround for him was to leave it connected to his old Windows computer and share it on the network where he can access it from his Mac.

But back to the problem... if you can print to the Lexmark by dragging and dropping into the schedule I see absolutely NO reason you shouldn't be able to print to it in other ways.  I'd be very interested in finding out why this is happening if you find a solution.  And also let us know about the 'no word docs' thing... that's goofy as well. - JamesJM

[Mike K]

I would imagine Lexmark will update the printer driver to work in Leopard it just comes down to when? Hopefully soon!!

A workaround for Word documents is to select print and then choose save as PDF, as long as PDF documents are printing with the drag and drop method then you should also be able to print a Word Document when it is converted to a PDF.

I agree with Van, Leximark is not top on my list of printers, they are a lower end budget minded company and may not have the full compatibility support other companies have like HP and Canon.

[vangogh62]

Not to plug another site, but I got my Canon at buy.com for $40 USD after a rebate.

[Dut]

Thanks guys for the help and advice. I Have resolved the issue by taking the printer back to where I bought it from. I will look into getting a printer delivered to me as I don't drive yet! Walking home with a printer and pushing a pushchair nearly 2 miles isn't much fun as I found out with the Lexmark. 

I thought it was strange too James, I had to connect through USB as my wireless network doesn't exist at the mo! But I could only print if i dragged and dropped and it would only take certain file types.

[FriPilot]

I bought an el cheapo Lexmark at Wally World about a year ago. It's been very undependable and goes through ink at an alarming
rate! Software seems to be lacking at best. I'd not buy another one.

 If I could find a way to make my old pre-USB HP 600 deskjet work with my Intel Imac, I'd "exhume" it in a minute. Sadly, It's sitting
on one of my living room chairs, waiting for me to decide what to do with it.

After the good luck I had with that old HP, which I paid something like $265 for new, I'm going to look at a new HP.

Ya dance with the ones who brung ya ~

FriPilot